J-PAL MENA Scholars Fellowship

The J-PAL MENA Scholars Fellowship is a two-year fellowship run by J-PAL MENA at the American University in Cairo, with Community Jameel and the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development as funders. It supports early-career researchers working on randomized evaluations of poverty-reduction and social-development policy in the MENA region. The program began in 2023 and opened with an inaugural cohort of six scholars. Fellows receive a USD 15,000 stipend spread across the two-year period, along with mentorship from J-PAL affiliate professors, membership in the J-PAL fellows network, access to MIT's MicroMasters in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy, training workshops, and J-PAL MENA policy events. The fellowship runs annually and has two tracks: current PhD students in economics or a related field, and completed-PhD academic scholars affiliated with MENA institutions. Arabic and English fluency are both required, and the program is built around impact evaluation rather than general social science research. The strongest applicants usually bring a clear evaluation question, the methodological background to run or design an RCT, and a concrete commitment to poverty or development policy. Because the fellowship is tied to J-PAL MENA's network and training stack, it rewards applicants who can use the year-to-year support structure rather than treating it as a simple stipend. The fit is narrow, but for researchers in the region it is one of the more structured routes into policy-relevant experimental work.

Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.